Firefighters Forced to Burn Down Home After Illegal Fireworks Explosion

Fire officials in Connecticut were forced to demolish a home after a cache of illegal fireworks exploded during a separate house fire last weekend.

Firefighters were forced to burn down a suburban Connecticut home after they found it was filled with illegal, high-powered fireworks, The Shelton Herald reported. Due to the nature of the explosives, it was decided that destroying the home in a “controlled burn” was the most effective way to dispose of them.

Authorities in Shelton were first alerted to the incident last Saturday when they responded to the home for an unrelated blaze. As they worked to extinguish the first fire, it triggered some of the fireworks held in the garage to begin exploding. When officers got the situation contained and investigated the garage further, they found a large number of powerful illegal fireworks wired to one control panel.

No one was injured in Saturday’s incident, though the family of three living in the home were forced to vacate. Unbelievable footage shows the commercial-grade fireworks exploding from the garage door as firefighters combat the blaze.

Fire officials subsequently deemed the home uninhabitable and on Thursday burnt it to the ground in an eight-hour “controlled burn.” Residents near the home were evacuated from the neighborhood out of an abundance of caution before the home was torched.

CT STATE BOMB SQUAD CONTROLLED BURN IN SHELTON: CFPA Connecticut member Keith Muratori @FIREGROUNDIMAGE took in a controlled burn conducted by the CT State bomb squad. The burn was in response to several loads of fireworks found after a house fire this past weekend. #shelton pic.twitter.com/dNdmUQRmcf

— CT Fire Photo (@ctfirephoto) June 28, 2024

Officials would not disclose the number of fireworks they found within the home, only that the number was “significant.”

No cause has been identified for the initial blaze, but Shelton police say they do plan to press charges in the matter. It’s unclear if the fireworks belonged to the family occupying the home. The Shelton Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment from Men’s Journal.